Tories must avoid the temptation of launching personal attacks on UKIP and its supporters, a senior Conservative has warned.

Liam Fox, one of the leading figures on the party’s Right, said that becoming “caught in short-term tactical battles” with Nigel Farage’s party by attempting to embarrass it would not go down well with voters.

Instead, he urged Tories to win over UKIP supporters at the general election next year by arguing that voting Conservative was the only way to stop Labour. Dr Fox said that a “totemic” tax cut, a strong commitment to weaken the EU and tougher immigration rules

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UKIP councillors have a better attendance record than colleagues from the three main parties (Laura Pitel and Tom Beardsworth write).
An analysis by The Times showed that UKIP’s elected officials attended 92.4 per cent of compulsory council and committee meetings from May to August last year, followed by the Tories on 88.6 per cent, Labour on 88.3 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 87.7 per cent . The anti-EU party won 147 councillors in the May elections, a gain of 139.
Drawing on publicly available data and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, the exercise compared the performance of all those on the 23 county councils and unitary authorities across England where UKIP has a presence.
Peter Reeve, UKIP’s local government spokesman, said: " The types of people who put their name forward [for UKIP] are absolutely dedicated." Tony Travers, a local government expert at LSE, said: "When you become a councillor for the first time you almost certainly have a higher attendance rate."
Not everything was rosy for UKIP. Five councillors were expelled from the party after joining a breakaway faction. Three others resigned, including one who put offensive material about Muslims on Facebook. Another stood down after admitting shoplifting.